Nightfall, The Dark City

Narrative

Joshua turned across to Sylenia, but saw that she had fallen asleep.

It seemed to him that she did not sleep much at all, possessing it appeared, such infinite reserves of energy. Yet when she did sleep, it was a slumber so profound it seemed her spirit had left her body. The first time she had slept, he had contemplated simply getting out of her futuristic vehicle and disappearing into the night. It would have been the easy thing to do, and perhaps his life would have gone back to how it used to be. He figured he was streetwise enough to disappear, and it sounded like Sylenia had troubles enough of her own. She would give him up as a lost cause and find some other sucker instead.

There were plenty of suckers out there; yet out of a city of suckers, she had picked him.

The glow of the holographic screens cast a pale blue light over her, allowing him to study that beautiful face once more. The faintly parted lips revealed perfect teeth through which she breathed almost imperceptibly, driven by the gentle rise and fall of a perfect body. Fearing for his very life, he dared to touch her white hair, to feel its soft and luxurious texture between his fingers, hoping that the glow he had imagined there might linger on his fingertips.

Joshua turned away and tried to think of something else. A guy could really fall for a woman like that, do some pretty stupid things, do some crazy things. He'd seen it before, but the girl in question was always a two-credit loser and turned out to be pure poison. The guy would go after her of course, and blinded by that special insanity, the one that no man can resist, ended up in the gutter or worse.

This was no street girl though; she was a living goddess, a member of a race of living goddesses. He had asked her what Lazloi meant; was it just a word or did it have a special meaning. We are the people of light she said; we were created to fight the darkness. Here he was then, sat next to a sleeping goddess, a being of light, drawn like a moth to the flame that will destroy it.

I guess this is how it begins, Joshua told himself. The guy thinks he's in control, but she distracts him with signals and promises, a lure that he can't take his eyes off. This can't be for real he tells himself, nobody this perfect could really be interested in me. This woman had made huge promises. She said she could make him strong, and could help him get recompense for what had been taken from him. She had promised much more too if he wanted it, the chance to be someone, someone who could bring justice to this wretched place. All she wanted in return was his help; to go to the places she couldn't go, to find the people who didn't want to be found.

Did he really believe that stuff, was he really going to be the person who could save the city from itself? If he were still in control of himself, he would open the door and go before she woke up, and leave this dream behind. He could become another shadow in this dark city, a city full of shadows.

Joshua sighed. He was not in control anymore. A guy could really fall for a woman like that.